Hollywood fails to learn from its mistakes

The encryption protecting hi-def DVDs has been broken. Hollywood is responding by repeating the mistakes it made eight years ago with standard-def DVDs. When will it learn?

Last week the key to the AACS encryption protecting high-definition DVDs was published by a hacker. Hollywood immediately leapt into action, sending cease-and-desist letters to numerous Internet sites. The letters did not have the desired effect. Instead, they triggered a "revolt" among Internet users, who spread the key far and wide.

The odd thing about this situation is that it is nearly identical to the story of the famous DeCSS hack of the DVD encryption system. While I can appreciate Hollywood's desire to protect its content, I can't understand why it is repeating the mistakes it made with DeCSS. (DeCSS was released in 1999; despite eight years of Hollywood efforts, it is still .)

I'm also puzzled by the current lawsuits against YouTube. Both Viacom and the Premier League are suing the company for copyright violations. Again, I understand the desire to protect content, but let's put this in context. YouTube already pays content providers like the NBA and the BBC for their videos, and it recently began paying amateur contributors. (Interestingly, nascent YouTube competitor Joost also just announced major deals with content providers.) YouTube is obviously keen to pay for quality content, so why are Viacom and the Premier League rushing to the courtroom?

My point is that content providers need to stop fighting old battles. Encryption schemes (and all DRM schemes, for that matter) are bound to fail, and the content is going to end up on the Internet. Instead of fighting this inevitable trend, content providers need to figure out new ways of making money. I'll admit it's not easy. For example, music downloads have not yet made up for the fall in CD sales. Nonetheless, it's better to take on this difficult task than to stubbornly insist on doing things the old way.

To see how to do things right, check out the agreement between Apple and EMI.
EMI is now offering DRM-free versions of its entire catalog music, and this DRM-free music is actually of a higher quality than the old DRM-protected tunes.